Southampton Weather - Notable Southampton Storms

Notable Southampton Storms

A short narrative history of the storms, floods and snow events that have left their mark on Southampton and the surrounding area - for a date-by-date record lookup instead, see our On This Day page.

Southampton doesn't often make the national weather headlines, but a handful of events over the last four decades have genuinely tested the city and the wider Solent area. These five are told here as short stories rather than a bare list of statistics - each one checked against a named, citable source rather than relying on local folklore alone.

The Great Storm - 15-16 October 1987

Southern England's worst storm in 300 years

The night before, BBC weatherman Michael Fish told viewers not to worry about a caller's fears of a hurricane. Overnight, an explosively deepening depression out of the Bay of Biscay tore across southern England with gusts that peaked at 134mph, the most violent storm the region had seen in three centuries. Hampshire took the brunt of it: roads across the county were shut by fallen trees, some 500,000 trees came down, and in Southampton itself a tennis dome was ripped away and blown clear. Homes lost roofs and chimneys, boats moored for safety were smashed against harbour walls, and thousands of homes were left without power for weeks. Eighteen people died nationally. The storm's real legacy for weather forecasting was communication, not the science itself - it directly led the Met Office to build the National Severe Weather Warning Service still in use today.

By the numbers: 134mph highest gust (nationally) • 500,000 trees down in Hampshire • 18 deaths across England • £2bn damage • Wikipedia • Great British Life - Hampshire's night of the storm

The Burns' Day Storm - 25 January 1990

The costliest UK storm on record for insurers

Named for falling on the birthday of poet Robert Burns, this storm arrived less than three years after 1987's and struck southern England hard again, this time in broad daylight - which is why it proved deadlier nationally, killing 47 people in the UK against 1987's 18. Sustained winds of 70-75mph and gusts past 100mph brought down roughly three million trees and cut power to more than 500,000 homes, at a total cost to UK insurers of £3.37 billion - still the single most expensive UK weather event on record for the insurance industry. Research for this page did not turn up a specific Southampton casualty or damage figure the way it did for 1987, so rather than invent one, it's fairest to say the south of England, Southampton included, was firmly inside the storm's path that day.

By the numbers: up to 104mph gusts • 47 UK deaths • £3.37bn insurance cost (UK's costliest weather event) • Wikipedia

The Winter Floods - December 2013 to February 2014

The wettest winter in England since records began

Rather than one violent night, this was two relentless months. A run of Atlantic storms brought the wettest December-to-January spell in England since 1876, and a storm on 23-24 December 2013 flooded a whole swathe of southern England running from Dorset through Hampshire, Surrey and Kent, on top of widespread power cuts that left around 50,000 homes without electricity over Christmas itself. Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, some 1,500 homes and businesses were affected by flooding that winter, while thousands more stayed dry only because of existing flood defences. It was a slow-burning event rather than a single dramatic one, but for the local rivers, road network and anyone with a flooded ground floor, it was one of the most disruptive spells of weather this area has seen in a generation.

By the numbers: wettest Dec-Jan since 1876 • ~1,500 Hampshire/Isle of Wight properties affected • ~50,000 homes without power over Christmas 2013 • Wikipedia

The Beast from the East & Storm Emma - February-March 2018

A rare, deep freeze for a city that barely sees snow

Southampton's mild, coastal climate means significant snow is unusual - which made this spell so memorable. A block of Siberian high pressure, nicknamed the Beast from the East, dragged bitterly cold air across the country from 22 February 2018, and when Storm Emma arrived from the south-west on 2 March it collided with that cold air to dump heavy snow across southern England, with drifts up to 50cm in places and daytime temperatures in some areas failing to rise above -12°C. Hampshire felt it directly: a BBC News report from the time told the story of rail passengers stuck on stranded trains in the county for up to 14 hours as services became trapped in the snow. A smaller repeat, the "Mini Beast from the East", followed a fortnight later but caused less disruption as the ground had already begun to warm for spring.

By the numbers: up to 50cm snow in places • some areas below -12°C by day • Hampshire rail passengers stranded up to 14 hours • Wikipedia • BBC News - Hampshire's 14-hour stranded trains

Storm Eunice - 18 February 2022

England's fastest ever recorded gust, on our own doorstep

Eunice was one of the most powerful storms to hit the south coast since 1987, developing the same rare "sting jet" feature that made the Great Storm so violent. A red weather warning covered the South East and East of England as the storm struck at midday, and the headline figure belongs to Hampshire's own back garden: a gust of 122mph was recorded at The Needles on the Isle of Wight, at the very mouth of the Solent a few miles from Southampton Water - England's fastest gust ever officially recorded. Nationally the storm left 1.4 million homes without power and caused three deaths in the UK, with widespread disruption to roofs, trees and travel across the south of England.

By the numbers: 122mph gust at The Needles, Isle of Wight (England record) • 1.4 million UK homes without power • 3 UK deaths • Wikipedia

Every event above is cited to a named source (mostly Wikipedia's own referenced articles, plus one contemporary BBC News report) rather than relying on memory or hearsay. Where a genuine Southampton-specific detail could be found it's used directly; where it couldn't, that's stated honestly rather than guessed. If you remember a storm, flood or snow event that belongs here, Mark would welcome hearing about it via the contact page.